BS and TSs twin Natural 40th ST-1s

So, half of this build diary can prettymuch be found in other posts, but thought I'd do an actual diary to track our progress, and setbacks, and progress.

My buddy Brett (BS) had said he'd like to do some woodworking with me in my man cave, so when his 40th came around I decided a good present would be an ST-1, and my help building it ... and while I was at it decided I'd buy a kit for myself as well!

So, not to get to cheesy, but to document our 40th build, here's the first session in the man cave, proud enough that we managed to get them together when we did our trial builds!


http://pitbullguitars.com/wp-content...54yy-image.jpg
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We'd both decided to go for the 70s natural look, and used the Fender headstock templates that I found posted in the headstock part of this forum (I forget who posted that link, but thanks!).

I was shooting for a 70s style, fat as can be headstock, Bretty was shooting for something a little more modern.

We did fairly well using a coping saw I bought a while back to do skirting, but never ended up using. We had a few issues (BS cut on a bit of an angle so we had to do some serious filing to level things out, and I couldn't actually fit the template onto the blank headstock) so ended up with slightly smaller headstocks than we wanted, but were still pretty happy.
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I googled for pictures of the colour I wanted, and after some back and forth email with DB, we decided on a Goldenrod base, and then some Saffron darkening - with a solid colour all over that would be darker and warmer than Goldenrod by itself, but not as dark as Saffron by itself.

As you may have seen in my other post, I didn't take DB's "Sand, sand, then sand some more ... and when you think you've sanded enough, you should probably sand some more" advice seriously enough, and after the first coat of Goldenrod I started to see some serious scratches in the cutaways and bottom of the body, especially in mine.

(I've included a shot of the little supports I made so that we could do both sides in one session - one sits in the neck pocket, the other in the bridge pickup cavity, and they've been pretty good, only wished I'd made them to fit onto the back of the body instead so we could do the front last).
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So, I posted a question in the general section of the forum, and got some good feedback from DB and Gav, and decided to sand mine back, and basically start from scratch. Guess I shoulda sanded properly in the first place!
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When I'd finished sanding, the body looked like it did originally, but with a slight yellow tinge ... and no scratches (I checked by using the wipe down with a damp cloth).
http://pitbullguitars.com/wp-content...ng46-image.jpg

So, after two coats of Goldenrod (sanded off and replaced by another two coats of Goldenrod on mine!) we both applied a coat of 75% Goldenrod/ 25% Saffron - and as you can see the colour is starting to deepen.
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Having wasted two coats of Goldenrod I was running low, so DB helped me out with a little top up (Thanks DB!!) and I've now mixed a 75% Saffron and 25% Goldenrod, and both BS and TS ST-1s will be getting a coat tomorrow.

It'll be interesting to see how it goes - BS didn't have to sand back like I did, but he did have a few scratches in the cutaways, so sanded back just those areas, but went a little onto the front of the body, which took the last coat (with 25% Saffron, giving it some dark-grain in that area on the front of the body) and I seem to have a darker patch on the arm contour on the front of mine (pic below) so hopefully the 75% Saffron next coast will sort these little bits out?
http://pitbullguitars.com/wp-content...qg5s-image.jpg

Brett and Todd - great to see you guys working together... Looking at the last photo - it does look darker, but it may be worthwhile thinking that it's part end grain part top grain... - as such it may take more Wudtone than other parts of the guitar. It also looks relatively consistent - it's not blotchy or patchy, so it may be natural variation because it's wood... I guess lastly - when you're playing it, your arm will cover most of that part anyway...
That said - looking nice - you guys going standard for the electrics?

I wouldn't worry about it. All the subtle colour and grain variations are part of the magic.

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/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from Brendan on July 6, 2013, 23:54
Brett and Todd - great to see you guys working together...

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Yeh, we agree, it's been great bonding/ bromance/ man cave time. That was really the intention of the present, locking in quality time - the guitars are pretty much a bonus (but what a bonus to have!). We were best mates pretty much all through high school, but haven't really hung out like this for years. Win win.

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/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from Brendan on July 6, 2013, 23:54
you guys going standard for the electrics?

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Yeh, we decided to put them together with all standard kit. Brett isn't thinking he'll play his all that much (although I'm kinda hoping the end product will change his mind) and I'm a bedroom player, so figured I'll see what the standard electrics play like before I start making changes.

Looking really good.
Great to see buddies working together and creating some very nice looking guitars.

So, Brett was away for a few weeks and I thought I'd do my fret levelling. I decided to go old school, and leave the katana for another time.

I managed to order and receive my radiused sanding block and diamond fret file, as well as tusq nut, but have yet to find the time to get stuck in ...


... probably because I have become a bit obsessed with getting the colour I want on the body.

I'd started to get a nice warm tone:




http://pitbullguitars.com/wp-content...7-IMG_8252.JPG
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And then disaster struck, and I noticed 4 or 5 deep, dark scratches running across the face of the body!!!!

I'm not sure if they had always been there, or I did them recently, but here's what I've learnt:

1. Sand properly the first time.
2. Then as DB says - sand, sand and sand some more
3. Sand some more
4. Sand a little bit more
5. If you're going to try to make a custom colour (say goldenrod, with saffron to darken/warm it a little) do one of the following:

- Either mix the colours at the outset and use the same liquid for each coat
or
- If you sand anything back at any point, start with the first colour you used, and then only add the darker colour in later.

Otherwise you end up with dark patches in the area you fixed ... and you have to sand again and start again!!

The colour looks fantastic! Keep us posted, guys!

Also, when you move your buddy's guitar out of the shed, into the house, to keep it safe while he is away, try not to let the screen door smack into it!!

And if you do, when you're repairing the area, see point 5 above!!

oh, and make sure to keep your work area free of anything that might scratch your guitar - especially if you haven't followed point 5 above, because you wont see the scratches until you put the darker colour wudtone coat on, and then they'll stand out like dogs bollocks!!!

Lol. That's exactly what I said.
Is that Dark Amber? That's what I put on mine, it's not a very forgiving colour. I had a few area's I was worried about. But they blend in a little after a few coats. Though the DA does hilight any defects very easily.

Yours is looking good though.

Edit. Just read back a page and saw that this is a GR and saffron mix. It looks a lot like the Dark Amber I'm doing on mine.

One more thing. I'm using a similar jig for finishing, but Mine is the other way around like you say you wish u had of. Here's some pics of how I've done it With the block in the back. You could just rebate the neck support and screw the body support on the back.

Couldn't add the pics I was in quick reply.
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/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from DanMade on August 1, 2013, 18:10

Is that Dark Amber?

... Just read back a page and saw that this is a GR and saffron mix. It looks a lot like the Dark Amber I'm doing on mine.

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Yeh, I was looking at Dark Amber for ours, but after advice from DB decided to go with the GR and Saffron mix - although, as I said I kinda wished I'd mixed them from the start, and then just added a couple of light coats of pure saffron at the end ... which is basically what I have ended up doing - a couple of just GR, then a couple of mixed, then I'm hoping to do a few just Saffron, but due to all these mistakes I have almost run out, even with the top up that DB sent me!

Actually, that reminds me - DB, I went to order some Saffron, just by itself (ie I don't need the whole Saffron kit with top coats and highlights, etc, but discovered you can't actually do this. Is this something you guys can organise? If I could just purchase some Saffron that would cover 2-3 coats on both guitars I already have the top coat and highlights I bought originally.

Quote:

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/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from DanMade on August 1, 2013, 18:58
One more thing. I'm using a similar jig for finishing, but Mine is the other way around like you say you wish u had of. Here's some pics of how I've done it With the block in the back. You could just rebate the neck support and screw the body support on the back.

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Nice work! Could you post a couple more pics of the block that's at the bridge? I'm gonna try to alter my set up to be more like yours, but can't quite work out what you've done at the bridge.

It's just a off cut of a timber stud. I just screwed it through the one hole that is in the pickup cavity's for the ground wire. If there isn't a hole there just drill one through to the tremolo spring cavity. Make sure the block doesn't hang past the slot that the trem block sits in, in case you need to sit the bridge in position for some reason.

Well, for someone who spends as much time online as I do I'm not entirely sure why it's taken me so long to update our build diary ... maybe because with only a session a week (or sometimes less) together it has taken us quite a while to finish our um, finishes.

So, here's what they look like now:

http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...o-IMG_8892.JPG
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...9-IMG_9080.JPG

I lost count of how many coats we did, but I'd say 5 or 6 of the golden road/saffron mix, a few saffron (a couple extra on mine as you can tell from it's darker tones) and then 3 or 4 of clear top coat - some of which were aged and others not! oh, and a coat of gold highlights!!

I also replaced the nut on mine, and after much trouble with printing and papers (gotta make sure laser printers are set to 'transparency' or similar settings to make sure they're not too hot, or they put dirty looking burn marks on the decal) we managed our decals.

I couldn't talk Brett out of the knock-off logo, and using my surname and a mis-spelling of Fender (with 'err' in it as I feel we made quite a few mistakes!) I went with a bit of a pun:

What I've discovered too is that popping the scratchplate back on gives you a much better idea of the colour:
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...6-IMG_0031.JPG

As you can see, we used the copper tape to shield the cavities and back of the pick guard

great work guys.

be proud of your work, Brett, Fender didn't build it - you did!

They would great on stage together . Good job !

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/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from todd_sh on January 9, 2014, 15:27
I also replaced the nut on mine, and after much trouble with printing and papers (gotta make sure laser printers are set to 'transparency' or similar settings to make sure they're not too hot, or they put dirty looking burn marks on the decal) we managed our decals.

I couldn't talk Brett out of the knock-off logo, and using my surname and a mis-spelling of Fender (with 'err' in it as I feel we made quite a few mistakes!) I went with a bit of a pun:

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http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...1nsa-image.jpg

Looking great guys!